“Once More Unto the Breach”
June 21st, 2010 at 18:20
Once more unto the breach,
dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up
with our English dead.
In peace there’s nothing
so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war
blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger
Henry V, Act III, Scene 1
________________________________
Years have passed since that first fateful day when Turus Thalanaar rolled up to the gates of Karazhan among all those established raiding guilds, and slowly filed in. It took us eight weeks and two raid teams before we finally got it right, and met the Prince. And what did raiding give us? Concern, that we were headed down the golden road toward what ends might include any of our dreams for roleplay on our server. Fear, that competition would lead to in-fighting over progression and–of all things–gear.
And there were casualties, along the way.
Thalanaar is probably unique in the respect that it’s spawned four raiding guilds whose successes have outnumbered and outshined most of the “established” raid guilds that existed at the same time, and in that we can take some comfort in the fact that we must have been doing something right. But ultimately it seemed that the fears so many had been realized, and roleplay could simply not exist within a firm raiding schedule, and each time the ending was the same.
“The Dream had turned to ashes.
The wheat had turned to straw.
And someone asked the question,
‘What was the dying for?’”
“The living can’t remember.
The dead no longer care….
but next time, it won’t happen.
Upon my soul, I swear.”
Well, we tried for the most part to stay out of any serious raiding, instead letting our individual raiders alone or in groups head out and work with other guilds to try to find the progression that would satisfy their “itch,” and for a while that seemed for most to be enough. But as time slides toward Cataclysm and more and more players ask, “Why aren’t we?” I begin to run out of reasons. And “well, we just don’t” has never been a good reason for a smart crowd.
So, this evening, Tsochi was named the first raid lead we’ve had in a little over a year, and we’re going to write a calendar for our own team. And this time, with our character firmly clasped around us, we wait for the dawn.
